- "Oh, sweet Ilmater, no!" Peri groaned.
- "Ilmater? Who'd have thought you would invoke the name of a pally-sponsoring god?" Imoen laughed.
- "Hey, Ilmater is great," Peri said, "but never mind that now. Do you recognize the captain of that ship we are about to take?"
Imoen squinted, shielding her eyes against the sun. Her smile faltered.
- "It is... isn't it?" she said listlessly.
- "Uh-huh. Why, I'm going to gut him this time..." Peri growled.
- "What now?" Winski wanted to know.
- "That man. That... infuriating, pain-in-the-proverbial-backside-of-a-man... is Saemon Havarian, a scoundrel, pirate, cheat and asshole extraordinaire who has betrayed us every single time we have had anything to do with him," Peri explained in an exasperated tone.
- "Really, sister?" Sarevok said, his tone unmistakably amused. "Why is it, then, that you sound almost pleased to see him?"
Peri shot him an extremely irritated look. She fumed quietly for a second, then started to chuckle.
- "Damn you, Sar!" she laughed. "You know me better than I would like! That bitch who popped me out of her womb must have dropped me on my head when I was a kid, but I can't help liking Saemon."
- "But... this is the pirate who sold you to Irenicus and Bodhi. Who left you to be killed by the Githiyanki for a silver sword he had stolen? Who betrayed you to Balthazar's monks?" Jelena asked, frowning.
Peri nodded and shrugged, smiling helplessly.
- "Well. Yes. I have quite a history of separating my sympathies and personal chemistries from moral judgements. There was this dwarven berserker for example... but that is beside the point. It is clear that Saemon can not be trusted, but he is... funny. Happy to be what he is, endearingly guilt-free, a real survivor. I really can't explain it better than that. And it turned out alright in all cases... got a nice sword and a shortcut to Underdark out of the deal, and kicking the ass of those monks was actually quite nice. And he didn't poison us like he had promised to... by Ilmater, I'm repeating his own pathetic justifications!"
- "Okay, but the issue at hand is that we need to get to Telflamm," Imoen said. "He doesn't know we are coming... well, at least I damned well hope so... so he can't have any elaborate scam ready at hand... what could he try to do to get an advantage of us instead of taking us to Telflamm like he is supposed to?"
Peri was thinking about it, frowning.
- "He isn't suicidal enough to try to rob us. And if he sets the pirates on us it is their loss. I suppose we could wait for another ship, but it will leave only in three days. I'd like to get moving."
- "Specifically, you would like to get moving with this rogue," Winski said dryly.
- "I always say, of two evils, choose the more fun!" Peri grinned. Winski rolled his eyes, touching Twiggy lightly with his fingers.
- "We are well equipped to take care of ourselves, though," Sarevok said. "We might as well travel with Havarian. But if he tries something, I may get homicidal."
So the group advanced the ship and ascended to the dock.
- "Hello, captain," Peri said in a mild voice. Saemon whirled around and paled, his grin faltering.
- "Now I can explain about the latest..." he started.
- "Yeah yeah. Like I expected you wouldn't have pulled a scam of some sort," Peri said.
- "Now that borders on insult to my honor but I will forgive that in the light of past events," Saemon answered huffily, without missing a beat, as he noticed that his life was not in immediate danger. Peri tried hard not to snigger.
- "You are a piece of work, Saemon," she just said.
- "Hey, I knew you would defeat those monks very easily as you apparently did, and for you I compromised my reputation, by breaking my contract with those..." Saemon went on.
- "Cut the rationalization," Winski said, his yellow eyes flashing briefly. "Now it seems that my young friend has her reasons not to skewer you where you stand, but that doesn't mean you have a free license to continue swindling her, or any of us, when we deal with you. Now we will travel with this ship, and you will act as a good, honest captain and take us to Telflamm, or you will have to face a displeased archmage who has discovered a way to aim a Disintegrate spell to a specific body part of his choosing. Do we understand each other?"
Twiggy hissed and stared at Saemon as well.
The pirate swallowed and nodded.
- "But of course, mister! Let me bid you welcome to a nicest, relaxing journey!" he smiled.
